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Thursday, June 15, 2017

Some Radical Approaches to Electronic Vehicles #Science

There's not much drama in the EV (Electronic Vehicle) world when batteries get slowly better and various improvements come but there's not much of high interest. For that kind of thing we need radical thinking so let's have some of that.

Stored energy from electric vehicles (EVs) can be used to power large buildings -- creating new possibilities for the future of smart, renewable energy -- thanks to ground-breaking battery research from WMG at the University of Warwick.Dr Kotub Uddin, with colleagues from WMG's Energy and Electrical Systems group and Jaguar Land Rover, has demonstrated that vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology can be intelligently utilised to take enough energy from idle EV batteries to be pumped into the grid and power buildings -- without damaging the batteries.This new research into the potentials of V2G shows that it could actually improve vehicle battery life by around ten percent over a year.

The interested student is invited to read the source article but you, the discerning reader, have already seen the fulness of it in that first sentence. Whoa, so all those EVs sitting the parking lot are actually an energy pool which can drive the building. Well, well ... turn that over a little and see what pops out of it.

A summary of the article is the system will use an intelligent approach to it since the energy required by the EV for doing its daily tasks can be known and any excess is therefore available for the building. The research verified this did not degrade the lithium-based battery faster but rather improved its longevity.

OK, then, I do believe that one is seeded.

If electric cars could recharge while driving down a highway, it would virtually eliminate concerns about their range and lower their cost, perhaps making electricity the standard fuel for vehicles.Now Stanford University scientists have overcome a major hurdle to such a future by wirelessly transmitting electricity to a nearby moving object. Their results are published in the June 15 edition of Nature.

Professor Shanhui Fan (left) and graduate student Sid Assawaworrarit have developed a device that can wirelessly charge a moving object at close range. The technology could be used to charge electric cars on the highway, or medical implants and cellphones as you walk nearby.Credit: Mark Shwartz/Stanford University

How about a pic of some happy scientists and why wouldn't they be since this looks like a Cool Thing.

"In theory, one could drive for an unlimited amount of time without having to stop to recharge," Fan explained. "The hope is that you'll be able to charge your electric car while you're driving down the highway. A coil in the bottom of the vehicle could receive electricity from a series of coils connected to an electric current embedded in the road."

- SD

OK, so I believe this one is seeded as well.

Observations

1 - For the broadcast power, what of radiation since we get all kinds of wavelengths coming at us already so this will make another one, albeit short range.

2 - Given broadcast power, the EV's battery should consequently be reduced significantly in size since the reserve capacity in it would not need to be anywhere near as large. That, in turn, reduces the overall global requirement for Lithium and permits significant escalations in EV production.

3 - When the EVs will be used to power a building, in effect, the employees are paying the freight for the owner's energy charges. That ain't fair. Presumably the EV owner charges the vehicle at some base station and the excess charge is drained off at work. The EV owner still has enough juice to get home or whatever but most of that owner's energy bill is being used by the collective. You know there will be cards and letters over that.

4 - There are flow-through batteries in some stage of development. These ones are charged by flushing out whatever liquid juice is in these things and replacing it with juice which carries a charge. That sounds fanciful but apparently it works. Regrettably, I don't have a citation but that was in the reading within the last few weeks.

These are exciting times, my brothers and sisters, should you be willing to accept them. Sure there's fear of the future but knowledge brings reassurance and the Rockhouse is as hungry for it as we ever were.

Note: I do have some news on the 'proverbial toilet' since I remarked it was hogwash when someone refers to 'going down the proverbial toilet' since what proverb has a toilet in it. Well ... my friend found one. Yes, the proverbial toilet has been located.